The present invention relates to a flashlight which uses a slidable switch for adjusting the focus and for actuating the lamp in the flashlight and to a waterproof flashlight in which the batteries can be changed under water.
In the past, there have been a wide variety of underwater lanterns or flashlights and flashlights which can be focused through a sliding switch. In the Schwartz U.S. Pat. No. 3,603,783, a flashlight has a magnetic lamp focusing and switching by means of a single externally controlled magnet which coacts with an internal hard-wired hermetically sealed magnetic reed switch to control actuation of the lamp and an internal magnetic member for providing lamp position adjustment for focus control. The Dill U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,759 and the Krupansky U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,825 are both underwater flashlights which use a magnetic switch to actuate the flashlight and for adjusting the light beam. The Trosper et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,755 is a portable magnetically actuated flashlight. The prior art Holt U.S. Pat. No. 2,516,993 and to Kibler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,525 and to Kibler U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,971 and to Baloochi U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,086 all teach hand-held adjustable focus flashlights.
The present invention has a combination switch which is slid to focus the lamp in an underwater flashlamp while pushing on the switch will actuate the lamp. Permanent magnets are utilized to operate the switching and focusing through a waterproof surface in order to main the waterproof integrity of the underwater flashlight. The flashlight also advantageously allows the batteries to be changed underwater without affecting the waterproof integrity of the operating components of the flashlight.
An underwater flashlight has an adjustable focusing beam and a waterproof battery pack which can be removably changed underwater. The flashlight includes a watertight housing having a slidably mounted lamp therein slidable by an external sliding focus member having a permanent magnet mounted therein. The permanent magnet moves an internal sliding focusing member also having a magnet therein coacting with the external magnet. The slidable inside focusing member is connected by a link to the lamp for moving the lamp into and out of a reflector when focusing the lamp. An on/off switch is attached to the slidable outside focusing member and has a magnet mounted therein for actuating a pickup coil attached to the slidable inside focusing member. The flashlight includes a waterproof attachable battery pack which has a magnetic switch therein actuated by a magnet in the watertight housing of the flashlight so that the batteries do not provide an electrical connection until the contacts are brought together and the magnetic switch activated.